It has been quite an interesting month at the office as we have received more enquiries than usual, often by individuals requesting details on an urgent basis.
We have also received enquiries which have left me somewhat speechless – for example a very urgent request for a translation of a respondent’s witness statement, fifty pages long, to be completed in one day! …not to mention the limited budget!
As many of my fellow translators will agree, this sort of assignment to this timescale is simply not possible, and, if by any chance it were, then it would no doubt be completed to a less than adequate standard!
I am so proud that my work, and the work of One Stop Language Solutions, is always performed to the absolute highest standards. We work for embassies and consulates and carry out top level professional translation and interpretation services. Our reputation has been built on the quality of services we provide, and we are not interested in taking on high volumes of work, but in building strong business relationships with our clients and understanding their needs. This all takes time, research, knowledge and experience.
This is also why it is so hard to be able to give an hourly rate for a piece of work.
I have recently had new clients asking to pay for my interpreting assignments only for the time they are actually using my services, but there are so many unseen elements to working with an interpreter that this hourly rate request is simply not possible.
Whilst an actual simultaneous interpretation, for example, may last for an hour or so, what you do not see are the extra hours of preparation and research that go into making the session a success. I believe the saying goes, “fail to prepare and you prepare to fail”. This is a trap I certainly will never fall into! So, when asking for a job to be costed, we hope that our clients are aware that to perform our work to the professional level on which we pride ourselves, each job entails so much more than just the work on the day, and our rates take those important hours into consideration, too.
Our reputation is built on top quality work and presentation of documents that are translated to the highest standard. We plan to keep it this way.